Convento de la Popa

17th-century hilltop convent with the best views in Cartagena

Perched 150 metres above the city at the top of Cerro de la Popa, this Augustinian convent offers the finest panoramic views of Cartagena and its surrounding bay, islands, and lagoons. On a clear day you can see the full sweep of the colonial walled city, Bocagrande's modern towers, and the Caribbean horizon.

The convent was founded in 1607 and contains a beautiful flower-filled courtyard and a small museum. The chapel houses an image of the Virgen de la Candelaria, patron of Cartagena, which is central to the city's Candlemas celebrations in February. Getting here by taxi takes about 15 minutes from the old city; on foot, the climb is steep and best avoided in the midday heat.

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A story
The Convento de la Popa sits on the highest point in Cartagena — "la popa" means the stern of a ship, which is what the hill was thought to resemble from the sea. The convent was built in the early 1600s on the site of a pre-Columbian indigenous shrine. During the colonial period, Spanish authorities were suspicious that worshippers at the hilltop were not actually venerating the Christian image of the Virgin but rather an older cult centred on a goat-demon called Buziraco, and the original image was burned. The story has never quite gone away.